russia.mic sanctions on question on a posses e-commerce giant alibaba prepares for the public offering in two years. it could be valued at $2 million. class and the industry for growth is skyhigh.

escalation.it is an

room for the united states to go further. a threat here in the executive order to do just that should the russians go further in the ukraine. class thank you so much for giving us the update. everyone is watching. now we need to head to the region. class that is right. we need to go over from rob --

from washington to russia. the disputed referendum in crimea. .yan is in brussels we are hearing from peter that the u.s. has imposed sanctions although they do not see -- seem incredibly hard-hitting. freezing on a covert posses assets does not seem like a big move. the eu took a similar step. they will also impose travel restrictions. they will not be able to travel the european union. 21 individuals in all. technically speaking, they are ukrainian nationals. very similar to what peter is talking about coming out of the white house. what they have not done, and

this is interesting, is they have not announced any economic sanctions. appetite right now for economic sanctions against russia. they have not targeted any business leaders. there was talk in the lead up to by theosses action foreign ministers that they might go after the so-called oligarch as well. there was not a hint of that in there. this gives the european union the ability to scale up sanctions. the whole idea of the action from the european union is to try to dissuade president putin from annexing crimea. is up for russia to take it in. that has not happened. it may happen later in the week. the diplomats trying to get ahead of president putin and prevent or discourage him from doing that. sanctions are the

light, really. the only thing i will say is compared to ironic'style -- iran sanctions, the biggest sanctions european is ever use against russia. class i have to ask, it seems incredibly ineffective as a tool to push president putin in any direction. does he care about sanctions against yana kovacic? class you know, look, some of the sanctions coming out of the european union and even the ones coming out of the united states, these are not just ukrainians, they are people. ahead of the russian military-industrial complex, dmitry is one of them, named in the u.s. sanctions list. a close aide to the progressive put that present. he is like the brains. really demand behind the construction of the vertical power and the ascent of president putin and his power.

they are an annoyance to president clinton. but i do not think -- even the foreign diplomat in brussels, going tothink they're dissuade president putin from thereking further action is a sense they are out of step now now that the referendum has gone forward and maybe puzzled as to how they really actually take action to get him to take an -- to change course. class thank you. on potential sanctions and the impact they would have on u.s. companies, even the sanctions, ultralight, that we just heard about, tom thompson is here founder and president of t thompson associates. his clients have included american express, chevron, mcdonald's, and pepsico. companies that do business in russia and with russians.

thank you for joining us. what do you think about the list of sanctions you just heard announced? years in 20 plus russia and eurasia, this is by far the most serious crisis since 1991. -- we will have impact on the ability to do business in russia. there will be sanctions put in place by the russian government. >> you are anticipating further sanctions. dynamic time. we have to wait to see what happens in a response from the russian government and what they

choose to do over the next couple of days or more. i think we will see a lot of dialogue between the united states and russia and a lot of the dialogue with respect to what is going on in the ukraine will obviously play a big role as well. >> are the clients feeling increasingly concerned? class i do not think so. most of the companies i have forged with in the past have been visiting for a number of years. the biggest issue is their ability to conduct business on a day-to-day basis. that is what they will be looking at. they need to be looking at putting together contingency plans with respect to what they need to putting together contingency plans with respect to what they need to do to prepare for what could be a difficult time in the

marketplace. i think the russian federation will imposer they sanctions to mirror what the united states and the european union will impose on them. what they will look like remains to be seen. in that regionng need to be focusing on a couple of very important things and repairing some plans. one of the biggest things they need to be thinking about is communicating with their stakeholders in the marketplace and the international community. companies need to be speaking with their employees. distributors, sources of goods and is. , to reassure them they plan to stay in the marketplace. it is important to communicate we will continue to do business and maintain our presence in the russian federation. theite the difficulties in

united states and the russian federation. >> what do you think the chances are this escalate into the kind of problems we saw during the cold war or anything close to that? or do we end up seeing something like the altercation in georgia, where the rest of the world has forgotten about that? this is an important issue. the ukraine and its relationship with the russian federation, it is there is significant. actions taken seem to indicate that. as to whether it will escalate, everyone in the business community and the people i work with and companies i work with this will result .n a solution to the issue i do not believe russian companies are looking forward to any types of sections.

i do notnger term, think anybody in the business community wants to see sanctions pose on either company. a major impact on how investors look at the russian confederation. number of downsides that will come along with it. class i look forward to learning more about this. thank you for joining us. cofounder and president of thompson associates. class when we come back, there has not been this egg of an ipo in the u.s. in two years. the heat is on. we are talking about alibaba. victory for underwriters like davy morgan and goldman sachs here and we will find out what investors.r possible class apple has been inflicted by march madness. we will have that story in a moment. we will have that streaming on

your phone. ♪

>> welcome back. ali baba. long-awaited ipo. to put it in perspective, the potential stock sales would be the one of the biggest in history and may even top face the's $16 billion offering. in our bloomberg west editor-at-large, cory johnson, life. cory johnson, explaining szekely would choose to do their deal here and what makes it so valuable to u.s. investors? >> i do not know.

class you here today? -- >> your hair today? is slicked back. i went for a run. i doubt myself and beer. a very interesting company because it is a combination of a lot of things we know. some combination of amazon.com with a little bit of google and ebay thrown in there, as well as a big paypal component. it has 800 million registered users. a great a giant is this. it may be the biggest pending on how the market likes it. i think as to why pick the u.s. over hong kong, it is interesting. to letng refused shareholders take a second seat. they have insisted on a corporate structure that disadvantages shareholders.

they would not get away with this in hong kong, an doeresting point here it >> like the stock? do you wait until the ipo, so you could see if it goes off without a hitch? what is the play? investing in been this through yahoo!. yahoo! from here has maybe another 25% potential. it is clear the initial will be in the neighborhood of 130 and $140 billion. they will earn about $4 billion. valuation, does that make yahoo!'s stake worth more than the market cap? >> no. yahoo! will have to sell half of their 24% stake, unless they decide to do private dealings, which we are not party to this -- at this point.

they will sell 12% and the new shares will dilute them down to 10%. that loan 10% after this is done. i think the underwriters will underpriced the deal. they do not want to replicate the facebook situation. the stock will be a goodbye for people if they can get it to requests is that fair to do to ali baba? it wants to squeeze as much out of this as possible. will they be in a situation where goldman and jpmorgan could push them to christ -- prices to protect themselves? >> it is in their best interest for the initial buyers to make money. andink it was a mistake excessive greed by the company and it was a learning experience and it gave us an opportunity to buy should -- facebook shares at

what now look like a spectacular price. i do not think that will happen this time. i think the stock will trade at a significant premium the day after it closes. this is unique. very large and very fast and there are a very few of these things. would like that the bird lived in kansas rather than in the interior of china. and it does not have the greatest governance in the world. i wish it were one share and one vote. is a spectacular business and the internet in china basically adds consumers equal to one third of tv households in the united states each year. the people like the devices just as they like to go and they use it and this is a company with over a 50% share of the market.

it is not after china at this point. ofis a spectacular group business characteristics to be an owner of. i suspected the return on equity and return on assets will be astronomical. will trade at a premium to its growth. >> it seems like a gamble. it is in the interior of china and we have not seen the balance sheet. corporate governance is lacking at best. lot of money and it is the same proposition. ..10 has quadrupled >> lemmie ask you, there is --ther company >> the twitter of china. >> you cannot announce -- pronounce it. not only do we not see the

numbers were trust the numbers if we see them, but we cannot pronounce the names. it seems weird. inability to pronounce it -- right about the time of the news, intending on ali baba. it is essentially the twitter of china. it runs quite the same. growing fantastically. a user base of 129 million users. the last quarter was profitable. baba, and other companies coming out of china, we have a convoluted ownership putcture that could really u.s. investors at a difficult position. it is great when things are going well. it has been a huge winner for him and others. the shareholders will not be buying a piece of the company. there are holes in another

company hong kong which holds another company and that kind of ownership structure makes it impossible for shareholders to have the same rights as other companies. >> we need to leave it there. you are doing more homework than u.s. investors. thank you for joining us. great today. we will be back with more. stick around. ♪

>> welcome back. >> what a pleasure it is to fill in and give you the news feed now. the top business stories from around the world. malaysia is asking for two dozen countries for help in finding the missing plane. it stretches all the way to australia. authorities are looking into the role pilots have made and possibly diverting the bone 77. much ass to raise as

$560 million in an ipo according to a filing, cbs outdoors plans to convert into real estate company. is out in los angeles. cvs will still own most of the company after the ipo. athletic gear company, under armour has approved a 2-for-1 stock. splito and founder says a improving the stocks trading ability. it has only just begun. look at tomle brady, shares go up even more. made in america, all the smut, we are taking a look at global companies choosing to manufacture in the u.s.. here is a look at the largest world of trains.

there are more than 100,000 of trains in the world and they're made right here in new york. take a look. ♪ >> is a company that supplies trains. the largest in the world. i have always had a motivation to move people in cities. we make them work. the trainty is system. the company originated in the .940's with the snowmobile we expanded into transportation in the early 1970's with contracts in montréal canada. also to new york city in 1982. 825 subway cars. >> we start like this.

this comes from a supplier in the u.s.. our first operation is to weld it together. once we finished the car body, we come over here. we will now go down through the sound -- the assembly line. the alleged goal harnesses, the floors, interior lining, lighting. those will all be installed. >> we choose to operate in the united states because it is one of the most important markets in the world and has great growth in emerging commuter and regional rail and light rail systems. is a buy america requirements require 60% of the vehicle to have u.s. content. also to be assembled within the united states. >> we are the main manufacturer for the u.s. market spared a lot and inomers in new york.

this area as well. >> we are building cars for new york city, chicago, san francisco, various commuter systems. florida sun rail. >> check one, check one. >> we will move forward on our test track. we are testing chicago cars. we are at the finishing end of completing the cars. >> station one. >> off we go. >> do you take the train? >> i was going to ask you. i take it down to the new york stock exchange or back up when i was working down there for most of my day. otherwise, i try to avoid it. .> i take the amtrak i love trains. up, when we come back,

we're waiting to hear from president obama. the administration pose new sanctions on russian officials. we will hear what the president has to say when we come back here it stay with us. -- back. stay with us. ♪

>> apples getting into the march madness mix. a specialjohn, what is apple's . >> an interesting game plan>> apples getting into the march madness mix. a special ncaa tournament app for its streaming device. jon erlichman is in los angeles for more details. take . a lot of the big broadcasting are locked up for a long time. was just announced was the acc conference, one of the big ones. it has its own additional network. available asg that a nap on their --

you have people like the ceo of apple, tim cook. about dukessionate basketball. since a lot of those broadcasting rights will not be available in sports for a long to dothe alternative is something like this, where you can have access to content where you enjoy march madness and highlight that kind of stuff, which you can easily get because is pushingnce itself content as well. >> what will broadcasters think about this? even if it is not a blockbuster deal, it is a movement into their territory. >> yes. is pushing content as well. on the one hand, broadcasters are paying huge money for live games. that story will not change. if you see extra news packaged in different ways, they will not worry too much about it. it raises the question as apple

dips a toe in the water. reports google was interested in acquiring the rights to the sunday nfl ticket. players like apple and google would have these devices that would allow you to be a direct consumer and bypass traditional television. if they could start to get access to more sports, then they start to rattle the cable cage. sportsow, so many live that are keeping people tied up in the world of cable are locked up for a long time. it is almost like apple nibbling with marchedges madness related material. >> thank you so much. short weeks, we will see the ncaa championship crown. before then, the party is going on. a ton of money will change hands because brackets are going down. has a look at who will cash in and here is a hint that she it is not you.

>> it is march madness paired on april 7, we will have a new college basketball champion. plenty of winners and losers off the court. ♪

in the office pool. >> all right. top fourhave my

picked. in the next day or so, i am going deep in the science behind my brackets. ist a couple of years ago, bet against my own team. they ended up eating duke. i was humiliated in social media. pair is a lot of strategy the fact that warren buffett said he would give you that much money if you got it right. >> it is impossible. a chance of getting a permit bracket are one in 9 trillion. the next hour, we will tell you all about at 11:00 a.m. we will break it down. the business of brackets on market makers in the next hour. it is all about the money surrounding march madness. we will look at everything from athletes tout -- some of the biggest names in wall street.

>> i have done my bracket as well because my producer asked for them. thursdaye have until at noon to lock in. >> stay with us. we had top picks. right now, more breaking news in washington. obama will come out to>> stay w. we had top picks. right now, more breaking announe a first set of sanctions in russia. peter cook is standing by. this is a first step here not a final move. >> not a final move. more of a second set. a big step. little tougher than some had initially imagined. going right after president putin's closest advisers. he is going after people who awful -- also had business ties. people with assets abroad. people outside russia who will be targeted immediately. this also gives the president and the administration room to ratchet sanctions up even further if russia does it.

the nest is largely expected well. week, the later this other fear on the part of the obama administration right now is that russia might move further into other parts of eastern ukraine. another reason to escalate the sanctions even further. >> i wonder what you think we will see next. i heard a lot of speculation , sanctionsss leaders will be expanded to business leaders. is that likely? classy look at the executive order and it gives you hints. need to cut into president obama is at the podium now. future of ukraine must be decided by the people of ukraine. that means ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected and international law must be upheld. russia's decision to centuries into crimea has rightly drawn

condemnation. from the start, the united states has mobilized the international community in support of ukraine. to isolate russia and reassure our allies and partners. the international unity again over the weekend when russia stood alone in the un security council defending its actions in crimea. as i told president putin yesterday, the referendum in crimea was a clear violation of ukrainian constitutions. and international law. it will not be recognized by the international community. i am announcing a series of measures that will continue to increase the costs on russia and those responsible for what is happening in the ukraine. authorized by the executive order i signed two rhys ago, we are imposing sanctions on specific individuals responsible for undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity and government of the ukraine. there areing it clear

consequences for their actions. second, i signed a new executive order that expands the scope of our sanctions. as an initial there are step, i am authorizing sanctions on russian officials. operating in the arms a sector of russia, and individuals who provide material support to senior officials of the russian government. to interferetinues in the ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions. we're continuing close consultations with our european partners, who today in brussels moved ahead with their own sanctions. tonight, vice president biden departs, where he will meet our allies. i will be traveling to europe next week. our message will be clear. we have a solemn commitment to our collective defense and we

-- uphold the commitment. we will continue to make clear to russia that for the provocations not to further isolate russia and diminish his place in the world. the international community will continue to stand together to oppose any violations of ukrainian sovereignty and integrity and continued russian --military in the ukraine will only deepen russian isolation and impact a greater toll on the russian economy. going forward, we can calibrate our response a son whether russia chooses to escalate or de-escalate the situation. believe there is still a path to resolve the situation diplomatically in a way that addresses the interests of both russia and ukraine. that includes russia pulling its forces in crimea back to their bases, supporting the deployment of international monitors in ukraine, and engaging in dialogue with the ukrainian

government, which has indicated its openness to pursuing constitutional reform as they move forward towards elections this spring. throughout the process, we will stand, which has indicated its openness to pursuing constitutional reform as they move forward towards elections this spring. throughout the process, we will stand firm in our unwavering support for the ukraine. as i told the prime minister last week, the united states theds with the people of ukraine and their rights to determine their own destiny. we will keep working with congress and international partners to offer economic support. crisis can improve the daily lives of the people -- as we go forward, we will look at the range of ways we can help ukrainian friends achieve their rights and the security, prosperity, and dignity they deserve. thank you very much. we will be available for questions. thank you. >> i want to bring in peter cook. what are your biggest takeaways? class we learned much more from

the president that we -- we did not learn much more than what we did not already know. you heard the tone coming from the white house. the president is criticized by some on the republican side as being weak is trying to take a tougher tone with russia right now and announcing the steps today is part of that. there is more to come on this. it is hard to imagine the action today by the united states and europe will get vladimir putin a step down. this will escalate and there is russians will respond with some sort of economic reprisal of their own aimed at the united states and europe. we will watch for that and the immediate reaction of the russians. there is latitude here for the united states to ratchet this up further. we did not hear any isolation from russian banks that is been talked about by members of congress going after state owned banks and freeze them out from the u.s. financial system. that will be another step. we .id not hear direct action

that has also been talked about up on capitol hill. there is a lot of latitude for more. >> not terribly tough sanctions we have seen so far. it is interesting he has talked only about support for ukraine and no mention for support for crimea. it is an autonomous state that apparently voted to join russia. there is no thought for what people of crimea want? or is that just posturing? talk to the obama administration officials, on paper and in the views of the obama administration and the rest of the european union, the international community, the united, crimea is part of the ukraine. the only way it can leave the ukraine is by action within the ukrainian government. they are treating this as if it is a violation of international law and it is on the wrong side

of the law here. >> if crimea wants to leave, do and thert a civil war, ukraine against the crimean's? it would be very dangerous. >> it would. >> thank you very much, peter cook, our chief washington correspondent. >> we will get more later today. some republican reaction from the president posses first set of sanctions from senator john mccain. that is coming up today at three clock p.m. eastern. you do not want to miss it. we need to turn our attention to a different kind of business. the nation's is first-ever cannabis jobs fair. -- in denverjured last week. 15 companies searching for new workers. here to tell us about what jobs are needed is a chief revenue officer of open vape, the -- the country posses largest cannabis brand. welcome.

telco -- tell us a little bit about it. >> it was an exciting day. 1240 applicants come through the door. 15 countries from around colorado. the whole idea was to start to open up the businesses in colorado to qualified job seekers. our industry moves at enormously quick pace. methods ofonal finding applicant can be very slow and can take months at a time to even get 4, 5, or 10 people in who are really qualified. we wanted to deepen the pool people very quickly and just like any other industry, we saw the jobs fair opportunity and it was a huge success, as you have probably seen. >> what skill sets are you looking for? people who have experience in the business of wheat, that is a little shady. >> i am not sure it is shady. i am in that business. really, we need a lot

of jobs just like in any industry. we need marketing professionals and administrative professionals. we need scientists and phd level folks who are able to come in and work with the plan and the oils. industry, you have tremors and people who work at a dispensary, but there are a lot of other job opportunities and that was the other message of the jobs fair, to say there is a lot about cannabis in the industry of canada's you out there do not know about. there are a lot of jobs we need. 30 or 35% of people were from out of state. these are people who really felt the movement of cannabis and wanted to be a part of the industry. movementmuch about the as job searching. we wanted to create an awareness of what is available. >> my first thought, and a lot of people are wondering if you need taste testers. >> we call those research specialist.

-- >> what kind of benefits are you talking about? this is a tip will job where you get a paycheck and health care. are we talking about stock options? what rdf is looking at? x a great touch it. it depends on the business you are working for. many of us are getting more progressive about our benefits packages. with everything you just mentioned, insurance and stock options. they're coming with a lot of the players in the it certainly, paychecks, a place to work where you are accepted, and people view your cannabis use as ok. you're not vilified for it. vape oro not have to smoke pot to get a job at a lot of these businesses. there must be people who do not smoke weed who are applying for jobs here. >> absolutely.

we will not discriminate if you're not a cannabis user. if you are, we will not discriminate either. it is a very open environment. work for usle who who do not consume any substance of any kind. >> no drug testing. drug tested, do you get that before you take any of the jobs? class not in our company or affiliated companies. certainly in some of the organizations i was hearing them talk about drug testing for drivers, people who would do towards or things of that magnitude. >> are all the jobs in colorado? >> yes. in this particular job fair they are. on friday, i went to massachusetts. we are looking for licensees in different states and massachusetts is one of them. organizers of the event were asking me to please ring a jobs fair to massachusetts. >> we need to leave it there.

good luck. we will be back with more in a few. a with us. -- stay with us. ♪

. . . .

>> march madness on "market makers." atm sure thing to underdog best. we will tell you about building the perfect rockets -- bracket. and why the final four has become the most important asset for cbs. atts, a lawyer files saved -- plus, a lawyer files suit against the ncaa. we are focusing on the bracket. welcome to a very special edition of "market makers."

>> i'm pumped. >> i'm pumped. i'm stephanie ruhle. >> and i am matt miller, in for erik schatzker. we have our guest from canada -- i don't even know if they play. >> they do. we have the most famous wall street personalities pulling out their brackets. we will spend the next hour talking to some of the weakest names and college sports. but first, we have a little bit of breaking news. a bloomberg exclusive area -- number exclusive. a college student suing the ncaa for not paying its players. jeff kessler once free agency --wants free agency. we will hear from mr. kessler in just a moment, but how big is this?

clearly, here we are, the day after we announced the bracket. everyone is focused on -- i almost said foot all. basketball. -- football. basketball. >> let's focus on the canadians. fromnes we know are kansas. this could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. the ncaa has faced challenges before. but this is jeff kessler. freeis the guy who brought agency to the nfl. he is the preeminent antitrust labor lawyer in sports. >> hold on. this is not about the group of athletes he is representing. this is about kessler, and what he knows to get done? >> in large form. the suit in some form has been filed before. challenges, faced

using likenesses in videogames, as matt mentioned before. yes, this is about kessler lending his heft, his expertise, his might to what he finds is an unjust situation. >> he set down for an exclusive interview with erik schatzker. take a look. most of the, players at the top level of football and basketball help the schools earn billions of dollars, and what they end up with is virtually nothing in return. .ost of them don't graduate none of them get financially compensated. and almost none of them have a professional career afterwards. so, they end up at the short end. >> b-schools would argue that most, if not all, -- the schools would argue that most, if not

all, of these athletes get a scholarship. the scholarships can be worth quite a lot of money. why is that insufficient? >> the scholarships, the athletic scholarships, are not valuable if they don't graduate and get the education that the scholarships are supposed to provide. you look at the statistics, is most of these players are used by the schools to generate all of this money, and then they basically are discarded at the end of that process. >> who are you fighting for here ? are you just fighting for the top foot all players and the top inthe top football players the top basketball players and collegiate america? >> this is about the big business of college sports. that has to do with the revenue

generation and sports. yes we are focused on the division i in basketball and the top tier in college football. most of the players in those sports are not stars. most of the players in those aorts will never have professional career. what we're trying to do is create a system for thousands of players who are not stars. >> are you saying though that those who are stars will get paid and those who are not stars will not? would expect in a free market is players who are contributing will get a fair share. however that develops. one of the things we found in professional football, where we brought free agency there, is the players who benefited the most, for example, were the offensive lineman. day playerle, every everyday player who

was grossly under compensated for the contribution they were making. >> if you win and the school start paying athletes, what happens to the athletic row graham's funded by the revenue generated by football and basketball? to stop thenothing schools from continuing with those programs. that is a complete canard. no one expects all of the revenue to go to the athletes. that does not happen in any other sport. when you look at professional sports, the athletes get a share of the revenues. the rest will remain with the schools in the schools are free to use that in any way they want to -- to support other sports, to support academics. anything else. that is up to the schools. maybe a little bit less will go to the coaches and administrators, but that's not unfair. future for about a the free market with talent at the collegiate level, and

basketball and football -- those are the only sports you care about at the moment. what happens within that world? dukes,the auburns, the they can afford players that small schools cannot afford. think you can have a thriving league where people will be a buy multiple teams, as many teams as there are right now and collegiate america? there is no parity between duke in basketball or and most ofotball the other schools. the schools with the resources and the ability already attract all of the top players. any fan watching this knows there is no parity in college sports. there is no competitive advantage.

fairly willthletes do nothing to worsen that situation and might actually help that situation because what we saw in other professionals sports is when you allow for greater freedom and fairness in the athletes, human powered some competitors to improve their situation. what is clear is under the current situation, there will never be any equity or parity. >> kessler is taking no prisoners here. scott, you saw that. could the real end result be, and your honest opinion? >> imagine a wild west of recruiting. imagine auburn saying to a football player, we will give you $500,000 -- >> humane saying that officially, on the record? >> ooh.

>> i'm not saying auburn would ever do that. -- at auburnthat are totally on the level. >> b-schools could go out and bid for the talent they want. andhe schools could go out bid for the talent they want. , the athletes are making millions of dollars for their schools. >> yes. and paying for the other sports. >> who cares about the other sports? about the other sports. and these players are so valuable, they are paying for an entire sports program. thet does not matter about soccer team, right? we are talking about football. >> it finances the soccer team. >> it funds the athletic department at ohio state. they get $10 million a year back to the general fund of the university it out. -- theyy are complete

are revenue generators. >> if you give money to a ohio state football players -- >> you can get one without the other. my job is to get fairness and legality -- his job is?hat his job is to get fairness? or it is his job to squeeze as much oh out of the system as out of the dough system as possible. at the end of the day, if you are a university president, you understand kessler's argument, but you have a university to run. if you do have athletes -- who just get paid one million bucks, i'm not sure -- you begin cynical and in all touristic. was at ohiowhen he

state, someone asked if he would fire the football coach for improprieties. do you remember his response? "i hope he does not dismiss me." that shows the power that coaches have over even university present. >> tressler was a great coach. go to commercial. i need to talk about penn state. scott, thank you for joining us. this is our march madness special. when we come back, there are always complaints when the ncaa selection committee makes its picks. we will find out which schools -- in a meeting with the commissioner of the conference. >> we will talk about the head of the college division. college division. this is "market makers."

if you were thinking of entering warren buffett's million-dollar challenge to pick a perfect bracket, would put together a list of things that have better odds of happening.

>> welcome back to "market makers." we are talking about the weiness of brackets, and as just heard a group of college athletes are suing the ncaa to get paid. sutton joins us from atlanta. this is clearly a hot topic for you. we just heard about the lawsuit being filed against the ncaa, saying the athletes need to get paid. you disagree with that? why? >> strongly.

thanks for having me on. i have not seen the complaint yet, so i'm not sure exactly what is included. as i have said before on your show, i think some level of reform is needed. it is a complete falsehood to go on camera and say that most of these kids don't graduate. studentity is that athletes on college campuses around the country graduate at a higher percentage than non-student athletes do. >> we're not talking about random student athletes. we are talking about football players and basketball players at the schools. it does not matter if someone on the women's volleyball team graduates. we are talking about the big money makers. >> i would assert to you it does matter, and i would assert to you if you take out the fact that student athletes who leave college early and go

professional, that will dilute your percentage. >> but only a small amount of ncaa players do that. it is very few. diluteect, but it will your percentage some. i'm fairly confident that college football players still graduate at a higher percentage than non-student athletes on college campuses. >> sorry. continue. theell, the premise that model of the college is a minor league is really -- it really does not give credence to the icllege student athlet experience. it is based on a false premise that the college education doesn't matter to these student athletes. i would beg greatly to differ. the number of student athletes

and college basketball and college football who go want to play -- if you just want to focus on those two sports -- a still go on to play sports at five percent. >> but how vulnerable are the scholarships? they are not four-year scholarships. they could be revoked any year. if you have a bad season, get injured, duke or unc could say, see you later and you would not have any potential to go to college if you get injured. >> i think one of the reforms that mike and his team at the ncaa have looked at is grandfathering for more than one year. i think that is something that should the on the table. there is more integrity in the business that we are being given credit for in terms of honoring scholarships for kids who do get hurt. a great number of student athletes transferred to other places. there is more of that than coaches chasing players off. let me say one thing though, because the law of unintended

consequences is going to come in here. i work on a college campus 20 -plus years ago, my oma motter, wake forest, try to give them a plug. one of the things -- >> it was the plug. it was the wake forest blog the television gods were unhappy about. finestiversity is the institution of learning. >> is that where you went to school? >> that is the team i root for. >> we will have more from the president of img. if you think about it, img's business is about content. that college sports content is so huge. if you look at the money they have made around fantasy, around practice, it is huge -- the question is who is making money off of it? >> the ad revenue around march

madness is over $1 billion. coming up, they are bullish on march madness. fromve final four picks some of the biggest names in the wall street business. ♪

>> all right, we are approaching 26 past the hour, so it is time for bloomberg's on the markets. we are one minute early today. i hope that does not disturb your schedule. the gains across the board there the s&p&p hundred -- 500 coming back from a three , but really it is u.s. industrial production boosting optimism on the u.s. economy little bit more than sanctions out of the obama administration -- >> i want to jump in. there is one name that is killing me today. the positive gaining as alibaba u.s. ipo's you wes -- process. you know there is something absurd about this. we all knew this ali baba deal was coming. yes, it did come sooner than people realize.

i guess it surprised me, everyone jumping on the yahoo! bandwagon. >> it is interesting to see traders react this way. if you back out of this chart, you can see the big dipper effect on the stock. it owns a quarter of ali baba. that is worth about $35 billion. >> back to the twitter, the facebook deal. people want to be in that orbit. they want to buy anything they can near it to ride the wave of. the allocation process will be nasty. we have to take a break. do you know why? we will be back to the business of brackets. stay with us. we are talking the ball b-ball. ♪

>> welcome to a very special edition of "market makers." i'm stephanie ruhle. >> and i am matt miller in for erik schatzker, because we are talking basketball and he is from canada. rightss, controlling the and the early 1980's, and so far the final four, the national semifinal, and the championship games have aired on the networks. -- youteractive's

essentially look at the digital side of the his mess. i was looking at a whole bunch of searches this morning. -- you essentially look at the digital side of the business. >> we try to get that bracket out as early as possible, just at the shows are airing for selection saturday. >> is yours done? >> i think i will be tweaking throughout the week. >> here, with the ball watching the program, they will be on their laptop as the same time -- at the same time as the laptop, the phone, making the word of -- making a collaborative, interactive -- i don't even know what to call it. >> it is not hard to imagine making more money on the second

screen than on tv. >> it is not making more money than the television. it is an example of what the can do.cream -- screen >> you have brackets, fantasy -- >> this is essentially fantasy for college basketball. you can get involved with your friends. you can get involved with projects. this year, we have around by round game, so if you have done really poorly in the first and second round, you can come back and do additional rounds for prizes. here? do you make money here you are. what are you doing digitally? is this about getting more ad dollars, whether it is on the site or live programming? >> it is certainly about ad dollars, getting users to the site, viewing add content. the more reporters and analysts we have covering the content and

the data from the years we have had the tournament, this is the first year we are rolling out what we are calling infographics, getting people to ensure the data in the fairways, so they can see the graphics they roll out during the tournament, to give people a flavor of what is happening, what people are voting on essential in terms of who is going to win and lose. -- the last few years, i have used yahoo! >> ok, you switched. >> how are you going to convert me? >> reliability. trafficrsday is a heavy part of the week. keeping the website up and the mobile app -- ?> what do you have to offer if it is just tradition. what are you offering? >> sure, i think those unique on tests, the round by round piece.

but also the data. we offer you insights on each game. >> the content? >> who is covering that, what is the rpi of that team, the specifics around those pieces, trying to give you more insight. we are therefore the player who really wants to win. using -- i do my bracket on bloomberg. rktgo, if you want to use the terminal. using cvs for basic sports coverage. i think a lot of people do that. >> our analysts do an excellent analyzing every game, along with all of our staff, even you just look at that in more depth. >> the machinations of this industry that has grown up do, basicallyds

for free. billions and billions of dollars. what we're doing right now, what he does for a living, the ncaa, we are talking about billions. and these kids get paid nothing. >> they get paid nothing now. all of this -- the nikes of the world are so focused. they will get major contracts when they do graduate from school. >> maybe. >> i do digress. you will get a huge spike. what do you do to keep the momentum. obviously, come june, you will see a massive drop off. >> we have seen growth year-over-year every year. following this tournament for these three weeks in an out what people are making their picks, giving them more analysis for their game. but we are doing this through the conference tournaments. we hope people get involved with our reporters, out there socially talking about it, and really start to follow them and follow our talent.

obviously we are covering -- >> before you go, who are your top four picks right now? >> i'm in north carolina fan is shortly. >> it does not matter who you are a fan off. who is your top four? >> florida is the number one vote getter for the winner. florida and louisville are the favorites. >> about that. >> even though louisville possibly treated poorly in their placement here. >> michigan state and arizona are the key others. >> michigan state, arizona, louisville, and florida? you are a north carolina guy? thank you for joining us, marc. manager at cbs interactive. we have picks from some of wall street's's biggest names. i am not kidding. even einhorn, gary cohn,

jamie diamond. stay with us. this is "market makers." we will get the topics from the guys who know how to pick the best investments. ♪

>> all morning on "market makers ", we are talking the business of bracketology. we have been showing you wall bracketsinners' throughout the show. ok, jamie dimon told me his

number one pick. duke. two of his three kids went to duke, so that is why he loves them. but first, let's look at this -- kind of obvious picks. >> all of the favorites. >> the most straightforward, the most deserve it of. if you talk about investments, how volatile you want to be, he went with the least volatile strategy. >> from the perspective of the sports fan, no offense intended, kind of lame. risk,does not have enough maybe. >> all right, howard marks. florida, wisconsin, michigan -- >> less risk. >> everyone on our list had florida. , 1, 2, and aas a 1 4. lineup the most likely

in the final four. >> we had a great story on wichita state and how difficult there rode has -- their road has been. i think charles barkley has been quoted in the story saying what it ncaa has done is make really difficult for wichita state to get there. they had three of last year's final four teams are playing against them. >> based on the math, they have less of a chance than louisville, and louisville is seeded fourth. indo you have wichita state yours? >> i do not. i think louisville has a better chance than wichita state. >> some people say that they got a poor seed. they should not be seated for. howard marks inks they will be knocked out. >> the teams they are playing will still be pretty weak. it makes them an undervalued pic. if we look at these guys, only two of them have louisville, but

all have florida. the favorite teams get over picked. everyone has them and their brackets. they all get it wrong. so there is no variance among these guys. no one is going to win because of florida. you do have an advantage on louisville if you get that. >> jamie dimon -- is that an emotional pick, because so many people like the school? they got shellacked by uva. >> duke is not bad. it is the north carolina pick. he is the only one who picked anyone outside the top four. there is only one guy picking one team out of the top. >> we will check in in two weeks then. you look across the board at these guys picks. who do you think will win it? >> i think it will be marks, cohn, or einhorn. >> all right, howard marks, gary einhorn.david

what do you think? >> i will check in with eric every day during the tournament. i will hang out with him by the watercooler. if you click all number ones -- is not going to happen. it has happened, but that is way too conservative. >> but it has happened. that was what i wondered. up herone ever picked big? >> no. >> never? nobody ever? >> it is st. patrick's day. you have a better chance of finding a pot of gold, 04 leaf clover, a leprechaun sliding down a rain grow -- a rainbow. >> you have a better chance of becoming the president of the united states. picking teams with the leading minds on wall street. >> do some schools have a right to be mad about march madness.

>> i say louisville. >> smu -- it is always good to have all of those cheerleaders around. we will speak to the head of the athletic conference. stay with us for that. ♪

>> for the last couple of years, colleges have been playing musical chairs when it comes to athletic conferences. -- west it has to do virginia and tcu joined up. meanwhile, other teams quit and teams from the old big east ended up in me atlantic coast conference. louisville will join me acc next season after spending this season and the new athletic american conference. cincinnati and south florida also end up in the aac.

there's a lot to get your head around. there is already so much to get your head around because there is so much in this massive tournament. we have four more with the play and the add-in. all of this translates to the big dollars. our next guest is the commissioner of the athletic conference in rhode island this morning. you have four teams out of your conference in a tournament that a lot of people -- but a lot of people thought it should be five. what happened to smu? for having me, stephanie. good morning. we feel strongly that smu has a tournament resume and our internment was very strong and they would get a bid, but they didn't and we have to respect what the committee did and i am not here to knock any other conference or suggest any other team would have been displaced. i'm just suggesting we feel strongly smu had a really good

season. if you are in our conference with the top right teams ranked in the top 25, you have to pay -- we have very good teams. we are proud of the four teams we are sending to the tournament. i understand there is a lot of talk on twitter and other areas today about the respect for our conference. i think our conference should have maximum respect. >> hold on. even if it should have maximum respect, did it get maximum respect? look where louisville is seeded. >> we do not know precisely what went on. i am not here to criticize the committee in any way. that is not why i am your. again, everyone has a difference of opinion. played alouisville good schedule and is playing at a really high level right now. i am here to fiercely defend my conference. it is a very strong conference. we have five really good teams.

beatd a team, temple, that saint joe's almost beat texas in overtime. teams.re competitive are happy to have four teams. we think that is terrific. we hope that smu plays really well in the nit. in the end, stephanie, we will be judged by how we do. we did well in the regular season. we have to do well in the tournament. >> you will definitely make more money if you do well in the tournament. what are the financial implications of getting four teams in march madness? >> we are pleased, because we did not know when the conference came together -- we are are reinvented conference. we are virtually a new conference. we did not know how many teams we would get in. we are units and it varies from

year to year what they are worth. it can result if you have teams in the tournament, it can mean millions of dollars for your conference. we are building the brand of our conference. we want people to perceive us and the right way and we are working very hard at it and going to continue. we are going to be very competitive. what is the implication for louisville? they are going to the acc next season. to yourl that do conference? >> i think we will do fine. it has been great having louisville in our conference. they have been the wind at our back. i have said it all year. we have also. they returned in the team. wonderful tradition, big fan base. they will join our office next year. they will pick up some of the slack. smu will only get better. they have great recruits coming in. it is a special thing in dallas

happening. they will get better. in addition, temple will bounce back. we are bringing in east carolina and tulane. they will quickly get up to speed. and our schools have tremendous potential. usf is looking for a coach. i'm sure they will get a good one. this will be a very strong basketball conference. >> what are you going to do to ring the next two weeks during march madness to build your brand in a bigger way. you have four teams, losing one. you have two weeks to get people to know your conference better. how are you going to do it? >> stephanie, there is a limited amount we can do. it is our teams. the profile we play during our tournament. they have been really good the last day or two, talking about how good our conference is. a strong is, we have conference.

we have to play well in the tournament. i think that will do it. we will talk from our conference, we will talk about how well they did this year. again, it is out well they pay -- play. did not have a lot of respect for our injury in the fiesta bowl. ucf, they were a 17-point underdog, as i recall. we all know how that turned out. we've got ucf was a very strong team. look how they did in the fiesta bowl. we feel in the end, it is what you do on the field, on the court that matters. we are building a strong conference. we will continue to talk about our teams. i am pleased to talk to you about it. >> mike, we talked earlier in the program with jeff kessler, a lawyer representing players suing to be paid. a lot of people think it makes sense since these players up to generate millions and millions

and millions of dollars for programs like yours. what happens if he wins that suit? what will you do then? >> first of all, i do not want to cross that bridge at this point. i don't think they will win. i hope they don't. in the end, i think of scholarship is extremely valuable. there are other enhancements we are providing to student athletes. you do not have to go to these programs. you don't have to go to college. it is a privilege to be a student athlete in that respect. the money that comes in funds a lot of programs that never earn a time for the university and provide a lot of student athletes with opportunities and other sports they would never have. in the end there is a slippery slope when people talk about paying players. i think the conversation becomes -- we do not want to be simplistic here. it is a slippery slope. there are an awful lot of issues that colleges do not want to pay players. >> that is clear, that you do

not want to pay players. >> yes, but paying them creates an employee-employer relationship that i think will be the region -- ruination of college athletics. why can't we leave well enough alone? there are enhancements for student athletes we are looking at now. some of the bigger conferences want the ability to have economy and those areas and do more for their student athletes. there are things we can do. when you get into paying players, you have an employee-employer relationship, issues that destroy the student athlete asked. and spirit that is my opinion. >> what we are excited about are the next two weeks in march madness. thanks for joining us. that is michael aresco. matt, before we go, we have to go through our top four. florida, oklahoma, louisville, michigan state is what i have. you? >> who you have florida and louisville in the final? i do as well.

>> yes. one of the reasons -- florida has a lot of teen years on their team. they have been playing together for years. that maturity, that trust, that is what i'm standing behind. >> i hate florida because they beat ohio state the same year that they beat ohio state in football. it kills me they win so much, but they are so good. >> that is it for "market makers ." it is time for bloomberg to take you on the markets. >> we want to bring you breaking news coming out of general motors this morning. gm announced three separate recalls. the recall will cover about 1.5 million vehicles. they expect the charges to be about 300 million charges in the first quarter. this is after gpm -- gm has all -- already recalled one .6 million vehicles. time to dive into the options

market. thank you for joining us today. talking about the volatility last week, it seemed to be all down to the fact that crimea was holding the referendum this weekend. after the vote has passed and crimea has that they want to join russia, we're seeing a selloff in volatility. >> if you step away from the events in ukraine, we think from a volatility cycle perspective we are at a vulnerable point where volatility can continue higher and that more mobility is by thetaken advantage of environment in ukraine. dr, a commonp hedging tool, was at the highest level around 2, now 2.4. risk aversion in the options market, but not significant risk aversion. the russian etf really did pop on the put side and a lot of those were covered on friday.

you could argue that risk has subsided then. >> i know you are watching company'sead of the second quarterly report. what is your twitter strategy right now? >> twitter prior to the first earnings of the public company, we wanted to hedge. a fundamentalrom perspective, he has been very bullish, but five of twitter's closest peers reported the public company rated down about 12%. we want to get long with the stock out to june. >> i'm sorry, we have to leave it there. ♪ . .

>> welcome to "lunch money" where we tie together the best stories, interviews, and -- in video and business. i'm adam johnson. the search for malaysia flight 370 get bigger and there are still no answers. and ali baba gets ready to come right here, going public in the u.s. in sports, time to rack it up. madness behind the march madness tournament starts this week. and we'll show you the high-tech eco-friendly plan for new york's low lines.